If you want something from the US, Fed Ex, UPS or DHL would be the way to go if you dont want to wait weeks for your package.

What kind of stuff are you looking for? You should be able to find everything you need for the Beemers in Mexico.

I found a supplier for the elusive Heidaneu K60 but they are at a shop in the middle of nowhere in the US. I wan't able to track down anyone with stock before we left and they just emailed me to say they have some. The timing sucks but we're still close enough that it's an option.

Thats going to be pricey. Is this a rear for the 1200 or the 800? I wouldnt spend the coin on it to tell you the truth. Just get an MT-60, MT-90 or when you need knobs, MT-21. You will find 21", 17" and 18" all over the place in the Americas.

I usually give my bike a mullet, which is a knobby front, DS rear. It has worked really well for the last year on the road in any conditions. I'm running 18" and 21" hoops. I am running the rear tubeless and the rim can take a 130 to a 150. No sure what the 17" hoop on the 1200 needs, 140 minimum?

__________________Riding the Americas: No Fumar Español_____________________________________________

Bike mullet should be a knobby rear and a DS front... a knobby front and a DS rear would be what???.....a Flock of Seagulls maybe?!

That'd what I've got now with a D606 up front (usually an MT21 at home) and an Anakee in the back. I've had a hard time finding 140/80-17s in any DS or knobby so far. Even in San Diego it seemed all the shops had 130/80-17s but 140 or 150 is order only. I have a friend heading down to PV for an all inclusive in about 10 days so I'm trying real hard to convince her she should bring them down with her. Hopefully that pans out as Fed Ex Ground was $582 for 3 tires and a week transit time so there's no way we're going that route. Perhaps Cabo San Lucas has some options.

We left Guerrero Negro about noon and headed the 216 Km to Santa Rosalía. The roads were well maintained pavement. I'm trying to enjoy the good roads because I know soon enough we will have lots of nasty rutted, rock embedded, sand covered tracks and I know I'll be wishing for pavement in any condition. Never the less, while riding down the near perfect slab of Hwy 1, which criss-crosses the Peninsula a few time before terminating in Cabo San Lucas, my mind is constantly wandering and usually ends up smack dab in the most challenging sections we did in Siberia or the 2 weeks of no roads in Mongolia.

The highway gives great views of towering cactus, palm like trees, huge round boulders that look like they have been stacked up like melons at a fruit stand and hundreds of dry washes. I haven't seen any water (other than the ocean) since we've been here but by the look of the bridges and concrete reinforcing of the low sections of road I guess that when it rains here, it really rains.

Unable to locate any suitable camping spots near the beach (I'm told they start just south of here and continue for a few hundred kilometers) we check into a nice hotel with a wicked ocean view. The people here are nice and seem far friendlier than in San Quintin. Tim and I had stopped at a grocery store on the main strip and were MUCH more uncomfortable with the crowd and situation than we were at any point on the last trip. I can't really put my finger in it but I got a really bad vibe while observing ppl outside the store. Everywhere we go ppl are interested in the bikes and in us but this seemed much different than the usual curiosity and it had me on edge. When you're 6'3", 240lbs, wearing a helmet and road armour yet total uneasy with the 5foot tall 100lbs ppl around you, it's time to split. Tim came out with the food and was feeling the same way (I had been watching the bikes). He walked out with a "Lets get the f$%k out of Dodge" look on his face. Thankfully no such feeling here in Santa Rosalia.

Santa Rosalia's claim to fame is the modular metal church which they claim was made/designed by Alexandre Gustave Eiffel (of Eiffel Tower fame). In the 90's this proved to be false but since they have been saying it for decades they have continued to promote it as such.

Today is the Day of the Dead and all the shops closed early perhaps to prevent attacks by the undead or so everyone in town can enjoy the celebrations

Not sure what the minimum would be. The the rim is a 4.25". He ran a 140 on the last trip. I expect a 130 would be too small for him. I'm running a 3.5" now so I should be able to run a 130.

Yeah, 4.25 is the same as the stock 990 rim, he can run a 140. FWIW, he can run tube type tires on the rear. I do it all the time on my sealed Woodys 3.5 Excel.

Yeah, you can run a 130 with the 3.5, thats what I have as well. Opens up a lot more choices for you. Also having a 21" front, you can find front tires everywhere. You buddy with the 19" front on the 1200, not so much, he will have to plan where to buy front tires. Still, not a big deal.

With your 17 and 21 hoops, you wont have a problem finding tires anywhere, but you cant be picky about what tire you want. Youre pretty much limited to MX tires or Pirellis, which is not a big deal. Although you will be able to find a rear Tourance no problem in most countries in SA. CA, mostly Pirellis.

__________________Riding the Americas: No Fumar Español_____________________________________________

Yeah, 4.25 is the same as the stock 990 rim, he can run a 140. FWIW, he can run tube type tires on the rear. I do it all the time on my sealed Woodys 3.5 Excel.

Yeah, you can run a 130 with the 3.5, thats what I have as well. Opens up a lot more choices for you. Also having a 21" front, you can find front tires everywhere. You buddy with the 19" front on the 1200, not so much, he will have to plan where to buy front tires. Still, not a big deal.

With your 17 and 21 hoops, you wont have a problem finding tires anywhere, but you cant be picky about what tire you want. Youre pretty much limited to MX tires or Pirellis, which is not a big deal. Although you will be able to find a rear Tourance no problem in most countries in SA. CA, mostly Pirellis.

We ran 140/80-17 Michelin Deserts last year. He didn't run a tube with his and it leaked really badly from thousands of tiny holes through out the tire. Mine was stellar (with a tube) not sure if he got a bad one of if they are just porous because they are meant to run with a tube? It needed to be filled several times a day. I'd be running the Desert again if they hadn't discontinued the 17" size

I was hoping to get the K60s as several ppl have posted that they are getting 15-18,000km out of them which should basically get us to to TDF and back into CA before needing to be replaced. If I can't get them down here and end up going through a few tires in the mean time so be it.

We ran 140/80-17 Michelin Deserts last year. He didn't run a tube with his and it leaked really badly from thousands of tiny holes through out the tire.

Well, FWIW, I have never had a problem. Tell him to quit running over all the Chollas.

It depends on what you guys are doing. Are you on a destination mission, or are you going to explore and ride around a bit. If the latter is the case, you will want knobbys for certain sections and they are easy to get for the 800. MT-21. If you are on a mission and do a minimum of exploring around, that Mefo might be the ticket for the rear.

If you guys dont mind taking a little more time, and you are interested, I have some great suggestions for Peru and Bolivia.

Also FWIW, Frederico, ther owner of Moto Shop, the KTM dealer in Medellin told me he could get rear Mefo's (same tire as Heidenau but in the states they are called Mefo super explorers) with a couple of weeks notice, so that might be an option for you. I dont know if the Beemer dealer there (Ruta 40) can get them. However, both shops have a good rep with travelers and Frederico at the KTM shop is a pretty resourceful guy so if anyone can get them, he can.

__________________Riding the Americas: No Fumar Español_____________________________________________

Well, FWIW, I have never had a problem. Tell him to quit running over all the Chollas.

It depends on what you guys are doing. Are you on a destination mission, or are you going to explore and ride around a bit. If the latter is the case, you will want knobbys for certain sections and they are easy to get for the 800. MT-21. If you are on a mission and do a minimum of exploring around, that Mefo might be the ticket for the rear.

If you guys dont mind taking a little more time, and you are interested, I have some great suggestions for Peru and Bolivia.

Also FWIW, Frederico, ther owner of Moto Shop, the KTM dealer in Medellin told me he could get rear Mefo's (same tire as Heidenau but in the states they are called Mefo super explorers) with a couple of weeks notice, so that might be an option for you. I dont know if the Beemer dealer there (Ruta 40) can get them. However, both shops have a good rep with travelers and Frederico at the KTM shop is a pretty resourceful guy so if anyone can get them, he can.

I looked at the Mefos but last I checked there was no 17 available.

Not so much on a mission. We did that last trip (RTW in 4 months was the goal) and basically rode everyday. This time we want to relax a bit more. In fact, we have been talking and may not even hit SA this trip. Rather than skim over Mexico and CA just to say we "did" Canada to TDF, we may take some time, learn Spanish, kick back and see a ton more than the last round. I can see spending a ton of time in Belize...

Understood. However, you can always ride Mexico and CA. Heck, Guatemala is only 4 days from San Diego if you haul ass.

South America however is a little more difficult because of the Darien. And, its a freaking huge continent. And, not to dish Mexico and CA, but SA is mind blowing. I would plan to spend most of your time there. You dont realize how big it is until you start riding around it.

Every country I go to in South America has more mind blowing scenery and riding than the previous country. Its amazing.

__________________Riding the Americas: No Fumar Español_____________________________________________

Understood. However, you can always ride Mexico and CA. Heck, Guatemala is only 4 days from San Diego if you haul ass.

South America however is a little more difficult because of the Darien. And, its a freaking huge continent. And, not to dish Mexico and CA, but SA is mind blowing. I would plan to spend most of your time there. You dont realize how big it is until you start riding around it.

Every country I go to in South America has more mind blowing scenery and riding than the previous country. Its amazing.

My thought on it is that we're here now so I want to enjoy as much of it as we can. Next trip perhaps ship straight to SA and spend a full 6 months there rather than 3 months this trip. I have a deadline for getting back home (1st of April) but should have winters free for the next few years so I can always come back whenever. I'm not sure what the others are thinking though so there are no definite plans yet.

We left Santa Rosalia and rode a couple hundred km before coming a cross a great camp spot in the beach just south of Laredo. The spot was in a small cove located in a small bay. After spending a few nights in hotels the beach camp was an awesome change.

We got up the next morning broke camp and we decided to go for a quick swim before we hit the road. We had been in the water several times since we got there but this time was a bit different. It seems like this spot was popular with others as well, namely a large school of jelly fish. They were only about 3" in diameter but there were thousands of them. All in all we did ok only suffering 6-7 stings on my forearm and a couple on Neal's ankle. We decided to deal with the pain rather than have our friends pee on us

The following day we rolled in to La Paz and grabbed a spot in a local camp ground. I don't know the name off hand but it's excellent. There's a swimming pool, laundry, showers, cafe next door with internet, hot tub etc. As soon as we rolled in I instantly recognized the flat black and flat grey Honda Trans-Alps belonging to Frank and Simone. This couple left Germany early this year after selling everything they had to fulfill their RTW motorcycle dream. I had run into them August at a adventure biker rally in western Canada.

We hung out around the fire and swapped stories.

We decided to stay only one night as Tim's bike had developed an oil leak at the final drive and the clutch had started to slip. We wanted to get to Cabo before the weekend so we could get his bike sorted out at the only BMW dealer in Baja.

We arrived in Cabo and discovered that BajaMotorSports recently went out of business. There was still bikes sitting on the showroom floor but there was also a note on the door saying they were no longer in business. Since we were already in Cabo we opted to stay for a few days and make fools of ourselves.

After 2 days of way too many drinks we headed back toward La Paz to grab the ferry to the mainland. We took the scenic backroad route from Cabo along the east coast. This rocky sand road follows the coast a almost the entire way to La Paz. Troy and Neal (who have very minimal off highway experience) learned quick and were riding the soft road like champs.

After only 80km of riding we came across another amazing beach camp and decided to pack it in early. I attempted to ride to the large umbrellas we were going to camp under and absolutely buried my bike in the sand. It took the 4 of us almost a half hour to get it out. I forgot how much I hate deep sand.

The next morning we headed out and continued up the coast road past dozens of amazing beaches and North Americas largest Coral Reef @ Cabo Pulmo.

Tim is the only one in the group with a DS front tire and loose gravel and sand proved to be a bit more than the Tourance was up for. The tire kept washing out and Tim came off 3 times, once at about 25mph. Some minor scraps and torn clothing but no injuries.

We arrived back in La Paz today and unfortunately Tim's clutch has gone from bad to worse. anything over 1/3 throttle and it slips constantly. Rather than board the ferry and head to the main land before fixing it, we've decided to stay in Baja. There are 200,000 ppl in La Paz and a few bike shops. Other than an actual BMW dealer, we have everything here to fix the issue (once we get parts from the US).

Still in La Paz. What a pain in the butt getting parts down here! DHL, Fed Ex and UPS all wanted over $800 for 3 tires and the clutch....7 business days transit time. Fellow inmate Jeremy (Beechum1) offered to pick our parts up in San Diego and run them across the border to avoid customs delays and "taxing". All the parts arrived in SD and Jeremy was able to get them across the line to TJ and shipped on Saturday. It seems companies in Mexico don't like to answer their phones even during business hours From TJ to La Paz should take a day and a half but our timing sucks so they are actually here now but today is Sunday and the freight company doesn't do deliveries Sunday and lucky us, Monday is a nation holiday.

On November 20th, 1910 the war to overthrow the dictator Porfirio Díaz, began and now is an annual celebration. I know what you're saying, "but Cory, tomorrow is the 15th of November not the 20th". Yeah well it seems they celebrate on the 3rd Monday of November every year and since November 1 was a Monday the 3rd Monday is tomorrow. So for this week anyway, one and a half days from Saturday is Tuesday afternoon.

We're hoping all the parts come in as ordered and undamaged. We rounded up all the basic tools we needed and didn't already have (1/2 drive torque wrench, mallet, brake clean, extensions etc). Since the R1200GSA uses a dry clutch and is shaft driven (crank running parallel with the length of the bike), we have to literally split the bike in half. This of course is a pain in the ass at home in the garage with pneumatics, engine cranes, parts washer and Nascar pit crew sized Snap-On chest full of tools BUT becomes a gigantic hassle while on the road, in a campground, using a cheap ratchet with a pipe over the handle as a breaker bar and fire wood as jack stands. I suspect there will be much swearing and throwing of tools...well maybe not but there definitely will be a lot of Oso Negro, Pacifico and fish tacos being consumed and this event will generate a few good campfires stories too.

Ideally, we'd like to get the bike apart tomorrow, have the parts early Tuesday afternoon, get things installed/reassembled and hit the ferry to the mainland Tuesday evening at 6pm. It seems like a tall order but if we miss the ferry Tuesday then we have to wait till Thursday as it only runs Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. La Paz is a great city but we've here for a week killing time and seen all we can see! If we can't leave until Thursday I'll be real tempted to stick around until the weekend as Baja 1000 ends here on the 20th and that'd be cool to see.